Spectrophotometric Studies of the Energy Consumed During Oxidative Degradation of D-Fructose

ABSTRACT

Mechanistic investigation of the oxidative degradation of d-fructose (D-Fruc) has been studied by spectrophotometric technique. Molecular mechanics (MM +) calculations suggest that the potential energy (PE/kcal mol^?1) of the d-fruc (opening structure) is at least three (3.71) times more stable than the PE of the cycling structure of the same matrix. The oxidation constant (K _ox) of the anionic form of the d-Fruc (Fruc-NaOH) is about seven times greater than that of the protonated form (Fruc-H₂SO₄). Therefore, the anionic form is more highly oxidizable than is the cationic form of this matrix. The limit of detection can be as low as 18 ppm (mg L^?1) of d-Fruc. This is about 60 times lower than the blood sugar level (BSL) or 100 times lower than that reported previously. The proposed procedure was applied successfully for the oxidation of D-Fruc in uni-fructose powder. The anionic form of D-Fruc (Fruc-NaOH) has the ability to store energy about 744.72 kJ g^?1 h at 608 nm in a condensed lightweight form. Kinetic parameters of the oxidative degradation of the anionic form of D-Fruc at different concentration were deduced. A number of models were used to evaluate the kinetic parameters. The mechanism of the degradation of D-Fruc is explained on the basis of kinetic parameters.     

Investigation of electrostatic charge distribution within the reactor wall fouling and bulk regions of a gas–solid fluidized bed

The distribution of charge within the wall fouling region and bulk of a fluidized bed reactor was investigated. Experiments were conducted in a 0.1 m in diameter carbon steel fluidization column under atmospheric conditions. Polyethylene particles were fluidized with extra dry air at 1.5 the minimum fluidization velocity (bubbling flow regime) for 1 h. Using an online Faraday cup measurement technique, the net charge-to-mass ratio (q/m), as well as the size distribution of all particles adhered to the column wall and those in the bulk of the bed was determined. The wall particles were found to be predominantly negatively charged while those which did not adhere to the wall were predominantly positively charged. The charge distribution within each region was then investigated by a custom made charged particle separator that separated the particles according to their charge magnitude and polarity. It was determined that although the net charge of the wall layer particles was negative, a significant amount of positively charged particles existed within each sample and therefore the entire wall particle layer. This suggests that the wall layer was formed through layering between positively and negatively charged particles. Particles in the bulk of the bed also consisted of bipolarly charged particles.     

Effect of laser irradiation on the electrical properties of dysprosium doped LiCo-Ferrite

The effect of laser irradiation on the electrical properties of Li_0.5+z Co _z Dy _x Fe_2.5?2z?x O₄ ferrite (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.2, z = 0.1) has been studied in the temperature range 300 K ≤ T ≤ 750 K at frequencies of 10 kHz?5 MHz, using a LIMO-IR laser diode, at a wavelength of 808 nm. It was found that laser irradiation increases the polarization, the resistivity and the paramagnetic region. As the result of electronic rearrangement and lattice defects, small polorons and clusters were created. The doping of LiCo-Ferrite by Dy³⁺ increases both the AC and DC resistance of the investigated material. The variation of the AC and DC resistance with the Dy-content (x) obeys the following correlations R _ac/100 = 50x ²+4x+0.005 and R _dc/1000 = 31x ²+0.099x+0.09, respectively. A peculiar behaviour was obtained for the sample with Dy-content x = 0.075, as the resistance notably decreases. The applicable result is that laser irradiation increases the resistance of LiCo-ferrite by about 17% while its doping by dysprosium at x = 0.15 increases the resistance by about 23%. Its value is nearly stable for the temperature range from 340 to 480 K.     

Preparation and thermoelectric power of SnBi4Se7

Polycrystalline samples of Bi₂Se₃ and a stoichiometric ternary compound in the quasi-binary system SnSe–Bi₂Se₃ have been prepared and characterized by X-ray powder diffraction analysis. At room temperature the carrier concentration values are n?=?1.1?×?10¹⁹?cm^?3 for Bi₂Se₃ and n?=?0.53?×?10¹⁹?cm^?3 for SnBi₄Se₇. The thermoelectric power has been measured over the temperature range 90–420?K. The thermoelectric power of Bi₂Se₃ is higher than that for SnBi₄Se₇, which shows that the Sn impurity has an acceptor character. Therefore, doping Bi₂Se₃ with tin atoms does not improve thermoelectric properties of this material, due to decrease the value of the power factor σS ². Transport properties of the studied polycrystalline samples are characterized by a mixed transport mechanism of free carriers. It is necessary to add more than one Sn atom to the Bi₂Se₃ compound in order to suppress the electron concentration by one electron. Such behaviour of the dopant is explained by the formation of various structural defects. Besides the dominant substitutional defect, Sn_Bi, tin atoms also form uncharged defects, corresponding to seven-layer lamellae of the composition Se–Bi–Se–Sn–Se–Bi–Se which corresponds to the structure of the SnBi₂Se₄.     

Optimal control of infinite-dimensional uncertain systems

In this paper, we consider a minimax problem of optimal control for a class of strongly nonlinear uncertain evolution equations on a Banach space. We prove the existence of optimal controls. A nontrivial example of a class of systems governed by a nonlinear partial differential equation with uncertain spatial parameters is presented for illustration.This work was supported in part by the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada under Grant No. A7109 and The Engineering Faculty Development Fund, University of Ottawa.The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.     

Vibration analysis of quasi-symmetric structures

An efficient computational procedure is presented for the free vibration analysis of structures with unsymmetric geometry. The procedure is based on approximating the unsymmetric vibrational response of the structure by a linear combination of a few symmetric and antisymmetric modes (global approximation vectors), each obtained using approximately half the degrees of freedom of the original model. The three key elements of the procedure are: (a) use of mixed finite element models having independent shape functions for the internal forces (stress resultants) and generalized displacements, with the internal forces allowed to be discontinuous at interelement boundaries, (b) operator splitting, or additive decomposition of the different arrays in the governing finite element equations to delineate the contributions to the symmetric and antisymmetric response vectors, and (c) use of a reduction method through successive application of the finite element method and the classical Bubnov-Galerkin technique. The finite element method is first used to generate a few symmetric and antisymmetric global approximation response vectors. Then, the classical Bubnov-Galerkin technique is used to substantially reduce the size of the eigenvalue problem.

An initial set of global approximation vectors is selected to be a few symmetric and antisymmetric eigenvectors, and their various-order derivatives with respect to a tracing parameter identifying all the correction terms to the symmetric (and antisymmetric) eigenvectors. A modified (improved) set of approximation vectors is obtained by using the inverse iteration procedure. The effectiveness of the proposed procedure is demonstrated by means of a numerical example.     

On the cosmological effects of thermal masses in the era 1011K⩾T⩾5xl09K

The cosmological effects of thermal masses of particles (masses induced via interactions at nonzero temperature) as well as ordinary masses are studied. These effects are shown to be negligible for photons. For electrons, however, they modify the dependence of the universe's radiusR and the timet on temperature.     

Fast Neutron Albedo Calculations for a Concrete Shield with Different Curvatures

The O5R Monte Carlo neutron transport Code had been used to calculate the neutron albedo for neutrons reflected from plane and curved concrete shields. The present calculations were performed to investigate the fast-neutron albedo in case of ordinary concrete shield, in order to perform comparative studies with the case of neutron reflection against a flat wall. The calculations were performed for three different neutron source energies of 1 MeV, 5 MeV and 15 MeV and at neutron incident angles of 5°, 30°, 45°, 60° and 90° and for surfaces with different curvatures (flat, 100, 50, 20 and 5 cm). The results obtained reveal that there will be an appreciable error on using the flat wall albedo value in the case of duct penetration calculations. The error was assumed to be due to the neglection of the curvature effect as well as to the improper choice of the neutron incident angle.     

Capillary instability of an annular liquid jet surrounding a solid cylinder

Summary The capillary instability of an annular liquid jet surrounding a solid cylinder is presented. A general dispersion equation is derived based on the linear-perturbation technique. The instability as well as stability characteristics of that model are identified analytically and confirmed numerically. The model is unstable only to the axisymmetric perturbation whose wavelengths are longer than the circumference of the liquid jet, while it is stable to all other perturbations. The maximum temporal amplification values prevailing on such a model are fairly lower than those of the full liquid jet. The thicker the solid cylinder, whether it is regular or irregular, the larger is its stabilizing effect.

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Riassunto Si presenta l’instabilità capillare di un getto anulare di liquido che circonda un cilindro solido. Si deduce un’equazione generale di dispersione basata sulla tecnica di perturbazione lineare. Le caratteristiche d’instabilità cosí come quelle di stabilità di quel modello si identificano analiticamente e sono confermate numericamente. Il modello è instabile solo rispetto alla perturbazione assisimmetrica, le cui lunghezze d’onda sono piú lunghe della circonferenza del getto di liquido, mentre è stabile rispetto a tutte le altre perturbazioni. I valori massimi dell’amplificazione temporale che prevalgono in tale modello sono molto piú bassi di quelli del pieno flusso di liquido. Piú spesso è il cilindro solido sia esso regolare o irregolare, maggiore il suo effetto stabilizzante.

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Резюме Анализируется капиллярная неустойчивость кольцевой жидкой струи. окружающей твердьй цилиндр. Выводится общее дисперсионное уравнение. основанное на линейной пертурбационной технике. Неустойчивость, а также характеристики устойчивости в этой модели определяются аналитически и подтверждаются численно. Предложенная модель оказывается неустойчнвой только для осесимметричных возмушений, длины волн которых превышают окружность жидкой струи, и является устойчивой для всех других возмущений. Максимальные значения временного увеличения в такой модели оказываются довольно низкими. Стабилизирующий эффект увеличивается с толщиной твердого цилиндра.